Bullet Journaling!

There is a lot of controversy with bullet journaling aka bujo; people love the appeal of them because of the endless possibilities for customization, writing, and planning. It is as simple as writing a task or event down and organizing thoughts in a manner that is different from everyone else. But, that's the thing. A large number of people who look into getting into bullet journaling tend to look at the best artistic spreads that have been done by individuals who have been bullet journaling for a long time, or are just artistically gifted. Posts on Pinterest, Tumblr, and Instagram pull people into this planning style, but when it comes down to sitting in a chair with a tombow brush pen in hand hovering over your newly bought Moleskine or Leuchtrum, a feeling of dread and doubt overshadow every thought lingering inside your head: "What if I mess up?" "What if I can draw my monthly spread perfectly?" "I hope my lines match up when I am creating my weekly spread." "Wait, what is my weekly spread going to look like?" "How am I going to set this up?" "How many boxes do I need to skip to draw a separator line to start my spread?" "AHHHHHHHH!!!!"

If any of these thoughts passed through your head just as they did mine, you are getting into bullet journaling for the wrong reasons. To bullet journal isn't to have pretty and perfect spreads (yes, it is awesome for you who are artistic and drawing skills come naturally, but give us regular folks a break!), but is to have freedom in organizing your ideas, lists, appointments, reminders, and even sketches and doodles all in one place. With a blank notebook as your canvas, you have the ability to make your own system and have that system work for you. Since every human being thinks differently, there are naturally going to be hundreds and thousands of different ways someone would lay out and organize their notes and thoughts. Attempting to copy someone else's system isn't necessarily going to work for everyone, and from personal experience, it certainly didn't work for me. Instead, it is best to get recommendation from the social media sites listed earlier as inspiration, but don't think that your bullet journal needs to add up to the perfection and beauty that is displayed on someone's account. Instead, take what they have, and modify it to your own tastes to create your very own system that will work for you.

When I did bullet journaling, here are some of the spreads I did to make it work for myself. For my perfectionists out there, these pictures might make you cringe, and I apologize in advance. :)

In my first picture, I have one of my first bullet journals I've ever started with my weekly layout consisting of a minimalistic vibe with simple black lines separating the days of the week with a page folded in half on the side to make room for any extra notes. My second picture was a word affirmation with my goal of saving money and putting that goal into a plan. I even drew a debt tracker where I would color in a block as I conquered my debt. The third picture is a stack of my various bullet journals, but in this picture I wanted to emphasize the use of washi tape on the side of the pages to denote differences in pages that belonged to the same month, notes, and so on and so forth. It also adds decoration and originality as well! The fourth picture shows a basic month spread with the days of the week and its date running down the side of the page with enough space for appointments the right of it (as you can tell from the corner, Ms. Nilla Bean got a hold of my bujo when I laid it on my couch when she was five months old :0 ). The fifth picture was a list of quotes that stuck out to me that I wanted to keep in my bujo as a reminder of the mindset that I was achieving. The sixth picture served as my key that I used consistently throughout my bujo when I made icons to denote the completion, cancellation, or progress of certain events and tasks. The seventh picture is another example of a minimalistic spread I was going for with the same cleanliness but with more open space (in the same bujo Nilla Bean got a hold of, XD). The eighth picture was a reading tracker I was keeping up with by bubbling in the number of how many books I read with a list of the books I wanted to read on the next page. The last picture depicts a habit tracker I made for the month of June where I kept track of things I knew I had to do, had to keep track of, and needed to improve on.

In summary, if you choose the bullet journal route, use the system for your own sake, not to copy the appeal of someone else's work. In fact, you don't even need name brand items in order to get your bujo started. All you need is a notebook you have lying around and a pen that works. I would recommend Google-ing, Pintrest-ing, Tumblr-ing, and Instagram-ing minimalist bujo spreads to get started, that way you are getting the inspiration you need without feeling de-motivated in the process. ;)

Happy bujo-ing! :D